Locals offer home to flood
refugees

By JOHN NORTONTHE
PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Residents of a city that
knows what it's like to have homes and lives destroyed by water are offering
to take in family members who also have seen their lives shattered by a
natural disaster.

A group of Puebloans are
arranging to provide a home for a family from the hurricane-ravaged Gulf
Coast.

Doug Sterner, who also heads
Pueblo's Home of Heroes efforts touting the city's four Medal of Honor
recipients, said that once the family is found, it will be offered a North
Side home rent-free for six months.

He said that a vacant,
furnished home already has been found and the landlord is willing to waive a
security deposit and charge $600 a month for rent.

Sterner said that the first
three months’ rent have been pledged, with $600 each from the Family Worship
Center and the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department, and donations from his
co-workers at Pueblo Community College and City Councilman Jeff Chostner. He
said he's working on getting enough funds for the second three months as well
as enough money to cover utilities. "If they need transportation, I
will drive to Houston or New Orleans to get them," Sterner said.

Whether the family remains in
Pueblo or returns is up to them, he said. Sterner added, "If they want to
go back to New Orleans, that's fine, but I came to Pueblo temporarily and fell
in love with this city."

He said that media people on
the scene and workers for Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., are seeking a family and
he expects to have one located by this evening.

Sterner explained that the
family would have to be one with no home or jobs left to go back to, not even
a home to rebuild. He said the people working on the project would also help
them find employment "and most importantly, get their children back in
school."

Sterner said that the people
involved decided to focus on one family because it was a way of accomplishing
something tangible.

"Mother Teresa once
said, ‘If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.’

"Many people are
standing by in shock just watching the tragedy," he said. "With a
situation like we're seeing down there it’s so easy to get blown away
because it seems hopeless.

"Our concept is we can't
do everything for everybody. We're just one city out of thousands, but to one
family we're going to make all the difference in the world," he said.

Sterner said that other
communities could follow Pueblo's example.

"Maybe, just maybe
another city will look at Pueblo and say maybe they can't help everybody, but
they can help one. La Junta already is looking at this."

Sterner said that Pueblo's
own history plays a part in its desire to help, referring to the 1921 flood.
"We've been through the floods and pulled out. We know how to get a
second start."